A 30-minute version of the Cuban staple “arroz con salchicha” (Cuban-style yellow rice with Vienna sausages) using long grain rice, spices and chicken sausage.
This post has been sponsored by MAGGI®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I don’t know about you but when you’re brought up in a Cuban household, one of the main things Cuban moms teach you is that you must eat WHATEVER is offered to you in another household. You say thank you and EAT IT.
“Don’t embarrass me.” – Cuban moms everywhere.
Even if you’ve never eaten said thing before, you just have to pretend. When I was 11 years old, my mom went back to visit my family in Cuba for two weeks. It was the first time I was going to be away from her for so long. Imagine being 11 years old and your mom is not home to love you, cook for you, DO EVERYTHING that supermoms do for you. AHHH.
On one of those nights, my aunt invited us over for dinner. She made us arroz con salchicha (pronounced: sal-chee-chuh), a Cuban-style yellow rice with sliced Vienna sausages. The most Cuban dish on Earth.
This flavorful yellow rice is made with onions, garlic, peppers, pimentos, tomato sauce and MAGGI® bouillon cubes. Once it’s fluffy and delicious, you add sliced Vienna sausages straight from the can. That’s it. It’s actually pretty freaking delicious BUT at 11 years old, I’d never had it before!
To everyone’s surprise, I cleaned my plate! My aunt, knowing how picky I was and recalling that my mom had literally told her “please make sure she doesn’t die of starvation because she is the pickiest eater in America”, was beyond shocked. And my mom… was UPSET. “You never eat that when I make it!” Oops! Oh well, she still loves me. And now I love this dish, too!
How To Make My Version Of Arroz Con Salchicha
Here’s the thing with Cuban food. Sometimes, it just so takes so darn long to make meals on busy weeknights. With that in mind, I wanted to bring you a quicker version of Cuban arroz con salchica. One you can make in one pot in just 30 minutes using chicken sausages instead of Vienna sausages.
A few notes:
- This is a spinoff of my aunt’s recipe. A lot of arroz con salchicha recipes on the Internets don’t require MAGGI® bouillon cubes but my family always uses them for our favorite Cuban dishes because of their versatility and to overall elevate flavor without having to add a ton of spices.
- When the rice is cooking, it’s important to keep the lid on the pot during the cooking time. The rice will cook with the steam. If you decide to use brown rice, which you can, you will have to cook it longer than 20 minutes since brown rice takes longer to cook.
- Feel free to use Vienna sausages instead of chicken sausage. I just wanted to spice things up with another option.
How GOOD does this look?! It tastes delicious, too. I hope you make this and LOVE it as much as I do!
30-Minute Arroz Con Salchicha (Cuban-Style Yellow Rice + Sausage)
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can sliced pimentos (4 oz), drained
- 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
- 2 cups uncooked long grain rice, washed and strained
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 1 MAGGI® chicken bouillon cube
- Pinch of achiote, annatto or turmeric powder to color the rice
- 1 bay leaf
- 12 ounces smoked chicken sausages, sliced (or 1 can Vienna sausages, cut in half)
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, green pepper, and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add sliced pimentos and tomato sauce. Sauté for 1 minute. Add rice, water, bouillon cube, achiote and bay leaf. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 15 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE LID. The steam is what cooks the rice. After 15 minutes, remove from heat. Keep the lid on for another 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
- While the rice is cooking, make the sausages. Add 1/4 cup water to a hot skillet and cook sliced chicken sausages at medium heat, turning them frequently, for about 5-10 minutes until cooked through. Cook in batches, if using a small skillet.
- When the sausages are done, mix into the rice. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Thank you MAGGI® for sponsoring this post and a HUGE thank you to all the readers of this blog for all your support! xo
Thanks for a great recipe. I had chicken sausages, some leftover rice and no ideas. We each ate about 3 servings, great job!
We usually cook the meat first then set aside for later. While using the same pan add the vegetables to soak up the flavor left over from the cooked meat.
Not sure if it would upset the moisture of the dish but that’s how I make the dish. How many lbs of chicken are you using?
Hi Amy, the recipe states “4 smoked chicken sausages”. I used the pack of 4 from Aidells which is 12 ounces. Feel free to use your favorite chicken sausage brand. Enjoy!
Been using this recipe for a couple of months now and I gotta say it’s pretty true to what my parents used to serve me as a kid.
Recently I remixed the recipe a bit and used some ground chorizo instead of the sausage and olives instead of pimentos and it weilded a really nice almost picadillo taste that went amazing with the rice. I also usually cook the meat first and cook the veggies in the lefteover oil afterwards, really great flavor boost from that. Can’t reccomend this recipe enough!
This is something my abuelita (grandma) used to make that was super delicious now thanks to this recipe I was able to make it for my amazing wife and kids. Thank you